Natural lighting for sustainability of cultural heritage refurbishment

Abstract

Our present research, starting from a previous study, aimed to define a methodological approach for sustainable lighting designs in a historical library, focusing on lighting quality, mainly obtained from the optimal use of natural light and its combination with the artificial one. A historical Florentine monastery, which is now a university library, was used as a pilot project. The proposed method forms an essential part of widening and deepening the recent study. Results have shown that this method will allow for adaptive lighting, based on the optimal control and use of natural light, historical-philological re-reading of the space, cultural heritage preventive protection and conservation, with the aim of building adaptive reuse, and it can be extended to similar cultural heritage cases, but also non-listed buildings and current designs. This research demonstrates how a correct natural lighting design can be a tool for sustainable refurbishment, guaranteeing cultural heritage conservation and preventive protection, and recovery of the historical, architectural and philological value of old and/or listed buildings, which have been converted to uses, often diametrically opposed to the original ones.